Wilmar's affiliated Chinese company convicted, Guo Kongfeng expresses shock: If true, Guo Hanyan will kick me out of the house first | Lianhe Zaobao

Wilmar International's Chinese affiliate, Guangzhou Yihai, was ruled by a Chinese court last week to be an accomplice to contract fraud, fined 1 million RMB, and ordered to jointly bear the losses of 1.881 billion RMB (approximately 350 million SGD) suffered by the "victim."

Wilmar International's Chairman and CEO, Kuok Khoon Hong, expressed shock at the ruling, stating, "If I really did such a thing, I wouldn't even need to wait for the Chinese judicial authorities to punish me; my uncle Kuok Khoon Nien would kick me out of the family."

The affiliated company Yihai (Guangzhou) Grain and Oil Industry (referred to as "Guangzhou Yihai") received a criminal judgment from the Intermediate People's Court of Huaibei City, Anhui Province, last Wednesday (November 19), ruling that it assisted Yunnan Huijia in committing contract fraud in a palm oil transaction with the state-owned Anhui Huawen International Economic and Trade Company (referred to as "Anhui Huawen"), ultimately causing Anhui Huawen to suffer an economic loss of 1.881 billion RMB.

Guangzhou Yihai is a subsidiary of Wilmar International's Shenzhen-listed subsidiary Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings (referred to as "Golden Dragon Fish"), which holds 89.99% of Golden Dragon Fish's shares. Wilmar International and Golden Dragon Fish stated that they do not accept the judgment, and Guangzhou Yihai has filed an appeal in court.

Golden Dragon Fish held an investor briefing on this matter last Friday (21st), and Wilmar International released a summary report of the briefing on Saturday (22nd).

According to Wilmar International's announcement, Kuok Khoon Hong emphasized that the Kuok family, as a patriotic overseas Chinese family, "has always been concerned about China's development for decades."

Kuok Khoon Hong stated, "To assist in defrauding a state-owned enterprise for such a trivial potential benefit, disregarding such a significant long-term commitment and tarnishing the good reputation the Kuok family has built in China over decades, is absolutely unimaginable."

Kuok Khoon Hong also mentioned that the Kuok family's companies have been deeply rooted in the Chinese market for over thirty years, with Golden Dragon Fish alone having cumulative investments of approximately 100 billion RMB; if including other related enterprises of the Kuok family such as Shangri-La and Kerry Properties, the total investment of the Kuok family in China has exceeded 250 billion RMB.

Golden Dragon Fish: Guangzhou Yihai is the misled party

Golden Dragon Fish stated that based on the facts established during the court hearing, "the losses of Anhui Huawen stem from its collusion and fictitious transactions with Yunnan Huijia, and Guangzhou Yihai is actually the misled party."

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](https://www.zaobao.com/realtime/singapore/story20251030-7746151) Due to the impact of being ordered to pay a huge compensation, Wilmar's net loss in the third quarter was 450 million yuan

The company stated that Yunnan Huijia, through long-term bribery of the executives and employees of the "victim" Anhui Huawen, colluded with Anhui Huawen to commit fraud, resulting in huge losses of state-owned assets: "Despite Yunnan Huijia already being in massive debt, they still issued a large number of letters of credit in violation of regulations."

YKA stated that Guangzhou Yihai did not participate in any "fraudulent activities," was unaware of, and did not implement any assistance; Anhui Huawen itself was already aware of the relevant actions, which was self-deception rather than being a "victim."

The statement also pointed out that Guangzhou Yihai's palm oil storage capacity is only 160,000 tons, and it does not have the storage of over 1 million tons claimed by Anhui Huawen, "Guangzhou Yihai has no reason to store Anhui Huawen's palm oil for free for over ten years."

In addition, the statement noted that the relevant transit business involved in the case was completed before July 2014, and all goods had been picked up. Anhui Huawen had never contacted Guangzhou Yihai regarding any goods transit matters since then, nor had there been any requests for continued pickup; until 2021, when it suddenly presented a "inventory document" with a forged seal from Guangzhou Yihai, claiming that there were 1.07 million tons of palm oil that had not been picked up.

YKA executives stated that the Hefei Public Security Bureau of Anhui Province deliberately concealed case filing information, and the Huaibei People's Procuratorate did not legally notify Guangzhou Yihai of the transfer for review and prosecution matters, later responding with "forgot" and refusing to provide the audit report, "These actions infringed upon Guangzhou Yihai's litigation rights."

Furthermore, the statement mentioned that since the case is currently in the appeal period, the first-instance judgment has not yet taken effect, so the impact on YKA's current and future profits is still uncertain. YKA also pointed out that if the second-instance court upholds the original judgment, the company will legally apply for a retrial.

Regarding whether this case will affect the company's future investments in China, YKA stated that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to building a legal business environment, providing strong support for the high-quality development of the national economy; however, "judicial injustice in some regions undermines this good business environment. The company believes that the second-instance court will make a fair judgment, maintain a good judicial and business environment, thereby boosting investor confidence, including that of the company." On Monday (24th), Wilmar's stock price rose by 0.31% after the market opened, reporting at HKD 3.26